Look what we can now add to our collections! No, these are not from the Corgi Model Club. It would appear that, after Blue DTC have underwritten most of the costs of getting the castings right, Corgi, as in Hornby Corgi, have seen a chance to re-use them and here are the first four models which are available to pre-order at uk.Corgi.co.uk.
They are listed under the heading 'Vintage Corgi Toys' and the first one shown is the Land Rover Breakdown truck with suspension that was issued last year. I remember reviewing this and it was very good, although confusing for us all as the Model Club was issuing its 417 at the same time! Interestingly, there would not be a great deal of useful pre-production work for the 417 that Corgi could benefit from for the very different 417S whereas all these four new models are very much the Model Club revisited.
I had expected the Model Club to try and make some extra money by producing a metallic blue version of the E Type Jaguar. but Corgi appear to have stolen the march on that. This was a very fine model in red but the blue I always found a particularly attractive finish and I very much look forward to seeing this on my table later this year.
The Porsche Carrera reverts to the more common colour scheme in its Corgi re-appearance. It also has a driver who sometimes went missing with the original.
The Ford Mustang is something else. The Model Club produced the 325 Competition model but Corgi have catalogued this as a 320 and given it a remarkable gold finish with a black bonnet. I believe this might have been one of the sample colour schemes for the Mustang in the 1960s. it is quite impressive, although the illustration seems to show a rather high ground clearance and I am hoping that it has a better stance when it arrives. Retaining the 325 cast wheels with what look like wide tyres is a strange choice as they were never used on the 320 so this is a bit of an oddity but and interesting and possibly great addition none the less.
This requires a new box, of course, so it will be interesting to see how that is produced. The Jaguar and Porsche do not need need boxes so presumably the Model Club ones are used.
Lastly, for now, we have the Volvo P1800. This is, of course, the 258 model without Simon Templar and with a fresh coat of dark orange-red paint and a change of interior to make it pretty much a 228, as the box now indicates.
Unlike the Ford Mustang, this does seem to match an issued model, albeit in one of the scarce colours.
I can see these being very popular models. There is something about 'variations' that appeal to collectors. Most of my stock in my own business comprises variations of models that are a little harder to find and which collectors may not have been aware of. I love looking at the small differences and especially the different colours and shades. very much like the Machin stamps of the British definitive postage stamp issues which remained virtually unchanged in general design from 1967 to last year - with more than 1000 'variations'.
I am a little surprised that it has been Hornby Corgi rather than the Corgi Model Club that has produced these new models and it does beg the question as to whether we will see any such variations from the Club or will they simply create the single model and leave Hornby Corgi to take it further?
As long as Hornby Corgi do stay 'vintage' all should be well and I guess we are all hoping that the strange James Bond Aston Martin they brought out as their R26101 but which was not a reproduction of a 261 at all and which had a different size of box too, remains a one-off and is not associated with this new and quite exciting series.
Now, what else can we hope for? The Bentley in black and silver would be an obvious choice. As and when these start to arrive I will write more about what they're actually like.
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